The present invention relates to a belt buckle, and more particularly, to an improved combining structure for an inward-wind type belt buckle of which an upper and a lower channels make a passage for a belt and a rear end portion of the belt is wound between the front end portion of the belt and the clothes.
Belt buckles have a main function of steadily fixing clothes, especially trousers, to its user to thereby remove any uncomfortable factors in users"" activities, as well as an additional function of satisfying aesthetic taste of the users.
Belt buckles in a variety of forms having such functions are in use.
With respect to the conventional belt buckles, the rear end portion of a belt is mostly wound outwardly of the front end portion of the belt that is fixed at the belt buckle, so that the rear end portion, that is, the end portion of the belt is kept separated from the clothes, which is not good in its appearance and apt to be touched by cuffs of jackets or taken by any objects when users are walking.
In order to solve the problems, Korean Patent Laid Open No. 1996-000111 (Publication date: Jan. 25, 1996), a prior application of the applicant of this invention, proposes an inward-wind type belt buckle that a rear end portion of a belt is wound between a front end portion and the clothes.
The inward-wind type belt buckle is made by an upper and a lower channel in a hexahedral shape forming a passage through which the rear end portion of the belt passes. The marginal portions at both sides of a plate body are bent to form the side walls having a predetermined height, and the lower end portions of each wall is attached to a lower channel in a plate form by welding to form a belt passage therebetween. A cut-out portion is formed at one side of the bottom of the lower channel through which a rear end portion of the belt passes.
Accordingly, when the user wears the belt, since the rear end portion of the belt is inserted into the internal passage of the buckle in the plate form and positioned between the front end portion of the belt and the clothes through after passing through the cut-out portion, it is not exposed.
In addition, a serrated hooking groove is formed at regular intervals at the inner face of the lower channel and a hook is protrusively formed upwardly at the entrance of the lower channel of the buckle so as to be hooked by a hooking hole of the belt, so that when the rear end portion of the belt is inserted into the internal passage of the belt buckle, the hook of the buckle is inserted into the hooking hole of the belt readily and fixedly.
That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a hinge pin 31 is inserted at both sides of a fixture 30 is inserted into the hinge hole 22 formed at the side walls 21 of the upper channel 20 of the belt buckle so as for the fixture 30 to be rotatable, and the serrated portion 32 provided to the fixture 30 is in gear with the front end portion of the belt and attaches it to the bottom of the upper channel 20 of the belt buckle, thereby fixing the belt.
However, this kind of belt buckle has the following problems. That is, since the hinge pin 31 of the fixture 30 is exposed outwardly through the hinge hole 21 of the belt buckle, resulting in that the hinge pin 31 of the fixture 30 exposed outwardly may contact the skin of the user to hurt or clothes may be caught on the hinge pin to be torn off.
Meanwhile, FIG. 3 shows another type of belt buckle in accordance with a conventional art.
With reference to FIG. 3, side walls 51 and 41 are formed at an upper and lower channel 50 and 40 and combined by a rivet to form a belt buckle.
This type of belt buckle is constructed in that, for the sake of manufacturing method, the side wall 51 of an upper body 50 is inserted into the inner side of the side wall 41 of the lower channel 40 to thereby combine the upper and lower bodies 50 and 40. Thus, when it is viewed form the front side of the belt buckle, the upper side marginal portion of the side wall 41 of the lower channel 40 is exposed on the front face of the belt buckle, marring its appearance.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a belt buckle of which a hinge pin of a fixture for fixing a front end portion to a belt buckle is not exposed outwardly, thereby improving a stability in wearing it.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a belt buckle of which a coupling portion of an upper channel and a lower channel is not exposed forwardly of the belt buckle, thereby having a fine appearance.
In order to achieve the above objects, there is provided a belt buckle including: a lower channel having a cut-out portion at the central portion of the bottom plate and side walls formed bent to have a predetermined height in the lengthy direction at both sides thereof; an upper channel having side walls insertedly coupled with the inner side of the side walls of the lower channel; and a fixture having a serrated portion at one end portion thereof and hinge pins formed at the both end portions of the serrated portion so as to be inserted to the side walls of the upper channel and of the lower channel.
As for the belt buckle of the present invention, a wing part is extendedly formed at the outer marginal portion of the front plate of the upper channel, that is, at the outer portion of the both side walls, to cover the front end portions of each side walls of the lower channel so that they are not exposed when the upper and lower channel are combined.
Also, a groove is formed at both lower end portions of the rear sides of the side walls of the upper channel, to which the hinge pin of the fixture for fixing the front end portion of the belt is insertedly fixed.
In order to achieve the above objects, there is also provided a belt buckle in which an upper covering plate which has an area corresponding to the overall area including the both side walls of the lower channel is combined to the upper surface of the upper channel of the belt buckle, so that the side walls of the lower body is not exposed forwardly.
As for the belt buckle of the present invention, the upper covering plate has a plurality of fixing protrusions at a predetermined portion of the bottom, which are inserted into fixing holes formed at the front plate of the upper channel. By compressing the end portion of the fixing protrusions, attachment can be made.